What's the buzz? A cargo of bees arrived in Yukon

Forget snakes.

How about bees on a plane? Thousands and thousands of them?

Passengers on Monday'sAir North flight from Ottawa to Whitehorse likely had no idea they were flying alongwith a bunch ofbeehivesin the plane'scargo hold.

"We're just getting [the hives]now. The plan was to get them the first week in May," said Randy Lamb ofWhitehorse's Downtown Urban Gardeners'Society (DUGS).

The organization received approvalearlier this year from Whitehorse city council toinstall two hives at its community garden downtown. The goal is help vegetable and berry production, andalso have a local source of honey.

The beescameto Yukon from an apiary in Ottawa, andarrivedin "nuc boxes", or nucleus boxes smallbee colonies created from larger ones.

Each nuc box might have anywhere from 10,000 to 15,000 bees inside, Lamb said.

The only setback for the gardeners so farhas been the weather in Ontario. Spring was late this year in Ottawa, and Lamb said that delayed everything, including the bees' readiness to migrate to Yukon.

"When we were having apple blossoms in Whitehorse, they were having snow flurries in the Ottawa area.So they're weeks behind us."

"We might getfive or 10pounds of honey" this year, he said. If the colonieshad arrived earlier, it might have been three times as much, or more.

"But the main [thing] is to make sure the bees are healthy, they get to proper size...then next year should be a much better year for honey production."

Lamb said people have been successfully keeping honeybees in Yukon for years the key is to ensure honey reservesare left in the hives over the winter,to help the colonies survive the cold.